Weather hits Wall Street and Main Street

It's hard to believe it was a year ago that Hurricane Sandy damaged or destroyed an estimated 650,000 homes and took more than lives.

It impacted Main Street and Wall Street alike.

This year, so far, it's been relatively quiet. That's good news for property and casualty insurers as they won't have to pay out as much as they've had to in the past few years.

Looking forward, using past seasons to predict the future isn't as easy as it might seem.

"Last year was a hyperactive season, this year we had a hyperunactive season," said Paul Walsh of The Weather Channel, "so you can't read a trend in that."

But sea level concerns make even smaller storms more dangerous, according to Walsh.

On a brighter investing note, Walsh said because retail sales are always impacted by stormy weather, large department stores will be better off on a comparison basis because of this year's lack of storms.